6 ways to score cheap tickets to summer events

Between the blockbuster films, incredible sporting events, concert tours and music festivals, there are countless experiences people want to enjoy during the warm summer months.

The problem, of course, is tickets. Tickets for these things can be expensive. If you’re a regular concertgoer or a film attendee, you can quickly find yourself spending hundreds of dollars on these events, and let’s not even talk about the price of a music festival.

[See: 10 Oddly Practical Things You Can Rent.]

Thankfully, there are ways to partake at a bargain price — or even for free. Here are six smart strategies for seeing movies, concerts and sporting events on the cheap this summer.

Buy concert and sports tickets directly at the box office. If you live close to a concert or sporting venue, head to the box office to buy tickets. While you’ll still have to pay for the ticket, you’ll avoid paying the fees for Ticketmaster and other such services, which means you’ll save.

This tends to work best for events at very large venues, such as Major League Baseball games or music concerts at arenas or stadiums, where the expectation isn’t that the event will sell out but that it will fill a lot of seats and still make a profit. Often, events at smaller venues will in fact sell out, which means this trick won’t work; also, smaller venues often don’t have a box office window for buying tickets.

If you’re not sure whether the venue has a box office, call ahead or check the website for details and directions.

[See: 10 Money Leaks to Shut Down Now.]

Buy tickets from brokers online the day of the event. There are a plethora of online ticket brokers out there, from Stubhub to SeatGeek. These online ticket brokers offer a nice service, enabling people with extra tickets to sell them easily, but it’s also loaded with people trying to make a profit.

Of course, a ticket that goes unsold means the seller doesn’t make a dime, so if you wait close to the day of the event, you can often strike a deal. Extra tickets tend to drop rapidly in price as the event approaches, often dipping below face value as ticketholders want to recoup some of their value.

Thus, one great way to get cheap tickets is to haunt these online ticket brokers shortly before an event. You can often get great tickets at a pretty low price if you’re willing to risk the possibility that you won’t be able to grab one.

Go to big blockbuster films early in the day. When a new blockbuster film comes out, theaters tend to screen it as often as they can. This means many theaters will begin showings as early as 10 or 11 a.m. At many of these early showings, the crowds are small — people are working, after all — and so, in order to fill seats, theaters will often reduce prices.

As a result, you can often see blockbuster films at a reduced price if you’re willing to go at an unexpected time. Check your local theater’s prices for tickets during the daytime hours, particularly before 5 p.m.

Another strategy is to visit the website of your local theater to see if they have any extra deals on tickets. Often, if you buy tickets online, you can buy one and get the second at an even lower price.

[See: How to Live on $13,000 a Year.]

Check out advance screenings of new films so you can see them for free. Many theaters and film companies want to have packed advance screenings in order to get media attention ahead of the film’s release; often, they’ll plan a media event and give away tickets.

You can get in on these free tickets by checking out sites like gofobo.com and seeing what showings are in your area. While you’ll likely be seeing the film in a packed house, you can’t really argue with the price. Just make sure you know what the requirements are before you go.

Buy tickets from Craigslist shortly before the event — and make a low offer. Buying tickets on Craigslist can be a bit of a dodgy situation, as there is no recourse if someone scams you. However, most listings on Craigslist are from legitimate people trying to make their money back on a ticket they don’t need.

One method to reduce your risk is to wait until a day or two before the event, then contact those selling the tickets and make a low offer. You can often wind up with tickets substantially below face value by doing this.

Even if you do get scammed, you’re usually not out very much money because you planned ahead and made a low offer at an opportune time.

Volunteer. At large concerts and music and art festivals, volunteers are desperately needed for all kinds of tasks. Many such concerts and festivals offer a volunteer program that allows you to enjoy the concert for free while handling some tasks for the venue.

This strategy works very well at medium-size festivals such as the 80/35 Festival, which offers a great volunteer program for people willing to work a few hours.

If you plan ahead and put in a bit of thought and extra effort, you can save a ton of money on all kinds of summer events. Good luck!

More from U.S. News

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6 Ways to Score Cheap Tickets to Summer Events originally appeared on usnews.com

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